The Hungarian government announced this Friday the start “in the coming weeks” of the construction works of two new nuclear reactors, in collaboration with the Russian conglomerate Rosatom. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto welcomed the permission granted the day before by the national regulatory authority, after numerous delays.
This controversial project illustrates the ties forged over the years by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban with Russian President Vladmir Putin. The war in Ukraine has not changed Hungary’s position on the issue, contrary to the desire of its partners in the European Union to free themselves from Moscow. At the beginning of May, Rosatom had thus lost an important contract in Finland.
The agreement signed in January 2014 assigns Rosatom the construction of two reactors, called “Paks II”, on the site of the only Hungarian nuclear power plant, an hour’s drive from Budapest.
A project of 12,500 million euros
This €12.5bn project is financed up to 80%, or €10bn, by a loan from Russia to Hungary, which backs the remaining €2.5bn.
The new units, with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts each, will complement the current four reactors, built in the 1980s and which provide almost half of the electricity production.
Criticizing the EU’s sanctions policy, Budapest has also recently stepped up gas collaboration with Moscow, negotiating more deliveries than expected in previous trade deals.
Source: BFM TV
